


Into The Dark

by RhayFalkCross



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: M/M, Post-Scratch, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-13
Updated: 2012-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-29 11:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhayFalkCross/pseuds/RhayFalkCross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Post-Scratch Dave says his final goodbye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> You should listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6XZsau7CSk  
> While you read this.
> 
> I'm sorry, it fit so well in my head and then I sadstucked.

At thirteen the dreams start. Every time you close your eyes you see steel and magma, a man who taught you how to live, and especially how to die. You see your mirror image, a girl wise beyond her years treading the line between light and dark. You see snow and frogs and bright green eyes, a girl who always smiled even as you bled in her arms. Most of all, you see a boy in blue, laughing with you, leading you, loving you.

            By fourteen you’re wondering whether they’re dreams at all. Everything is so vivid, and the tears on your cheeks when you wake are certainly real.

            By fifteen you can remember their names. You know your Bro never existed in this world, but the others still might have. Rose and Jade and John. You start looking.

            By sixteen you’ve found Rose. She remembers, too, though not as much as you and not as clearly. The two of you spend hours online, talking to each other and comparing leads as you search for the other two.

            You are seventeen years old. Your name Dave Strider and you just saw the announcement for comedian John Crocker’s death on the evening news. You look at the picture pasted on the screen and your gut slowly grows cold. Something is wrong here, there’s no way John should be that old. His last name is wrong. He’s not the same John as yours. And yet… you would know that buck-toothed grin anywhere. A distant part of you makes note of the time and place that the funeral is being held. If you couldn’t say hello, you were at least going to say goodbye.

            At the funeral they almost don’t let you and Rose in. A tiny old woman saves you at the last second, telling the men at the door that you two are family friends. As she leads you in, you realize that you recognize her, the eyes are unmistakable.

            “Jade?” you ask, tentatively, in case she doesn’t remember.

            “Hey there, Coolkid.” her frail voice replies, and it kills you to compare it to the vibrant girl you once knew. Then Rose is next to her, holding her arm as Jade leads you to the seats. The two girls are talking animatedly and you think about how little time you both have left with her after just now being reunited.

            “Yo, Harley, is it okay if I say my own goodbye?” You ask, before the service starts and a ton of people start flooding in. If at all possible you’d prefer it to be the four of you.  It seems fitting.

            “Of course, Dave. He’d like that.”

            “Did he remember?”

            “Mostly you.”

            You walk over to where the casket is and drag a stool so you’re facing the picture they’ve got propped up. In the photo John is younger, he hasn’t grown the mustache you saw him with on the news, so he looks almost exactly like yours.

            Perched on the stool you open the case you’d brought and pull out your old guitar. You take a deep breath and stare at the familiar smiling face before beginning.

 

 _Love of mine some day you will die_

 _But I'll be close behind_

 _I'll follow you into the dark_

 

            You think of every doomed timeline, and a small, bitter part of you laughs at how true it had been then, but now you were forced to stay behind. To wait until you’d played your part here.

 _No blinding lights or tunnels to gates of white_

 _Just our hands clasped so tight_

 _Waiting for the hint of a spark_

 _If heaven and hell decide_

 _That they both are satisfied_

 _Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs_

            You remember the instant before it all ended, when you and John had stood eyes and hands locked, waiting for it to be over. As the universe tore around you, you hadn’t been scared for yourself, only for him.

 _If there's no one beside you_

 _When your soul embarks_

 _Then I'll follow you into the dark_

 

            You know it’ll take a little longer, this time. You ask him to be patient, but you promise you’ll follow him soon. You always have.


End file.
